Gunnar Henderson 2021

[Frobby]

18 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

A bit quicker, so a week before the minor league season ends instead of waiting until the following year?

I've not seen much in the way of Elias promoting guys who are excelling.

No, I mean promotions by or before mid-season.   

I agree Elias has not been aggressive with promotions.   This is a new situation, because of the missed year.   So we’ll see how he responds to that circumstance.    In a normal situation, Henderson might have played all last year at Delmarva even if he did very well.   But now he’s a year and older than he would have been, and he has seen a few weeks of advanced pitching at the alternate site last year.   So, I’d like to think Elias could be quicker to move him if his performance is good.   Rather than falling all over myself guessing what Elias may do, I’d rather wait and see how Henderson and others actually perform and see what happens.  
 

[ISU94]

 

[LookinUp]

This is becoming the “what did he do tonight thread.” Turning into must see.

[BirdinBama]

I love this young man, and not just because he's from Alabama! He has been on fire with the bat since the start!

[Tony-OH]

20 hours ago, Frobby said:

Let’s see how long he stays there if he performs well.    Given the lack of a MiL season last year, I’m fine with conservative initial placements, so long as the team is a bit quicker than usual to reward those who are excelling with promotions.  

I think we will see some more movement this year by prospects because of the lost year last year. Elias was pretty cautious on his placements this year besides the surprising jump of Jaylen Ferguson and Nick Vespi to AA to start the year, but I think he'll see how guys are doing and make some early adjustments.

Some positions are stacked up a bit so if you move a guy up, you have to figure out who either goes back or gets less playing time. It's pretty clear that the Orioles want to see Ortiz at SS pretty much full time so if you move Gunnar up, then what do you do with Ortiz? 

Welk and Martinez are splitting duties at 3B in Aberdeen and are 24-year old. Do they move to AA or does the organization just give up on them and move Henderson up so he splits time between 3B and SS.

For now, everyone has a place to play and if Henderson plays the second half at Aberdeen and does well, he could be starting AA at 20-years old next year and is well ahead of the curve still.

[Sports Guy]

I think, right now, The anticipation is what Tony said..Gunnar goes to Aberdeen this year and starts next year in Bowie.

To me, not only did we want to see the bat but also what position he ends up at.  By the end of this year, I feel we will have an idea of he has a chance at SS or if it’s definitely 3rd base for him.

I think that matters in terms of free agency and any long term trades they may look into.

[maybenxtyr]

I've really enjoyed watching him here in the early part of the season. Unless they slow roll him I don't think he'll be in Salisbury long.

[wildcard]

Gunnar Henderson is just showing 'em how its done.

RBI double the first time up.    Two RBI single the second time up.   Steals 3rd and scores on a error.

Of course I know RBIs don't mean anything to some on the OH.

Third time up.   Bases load.  13 pitch at bat.  He walks.   Another RBI.  The 4th RBI that does not matter.

[bpilktree]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

Gunnar Henderson is just showing 'em how its done.

RBI double the first time up.    Two RBI single the second time up.   Steals 3rd and scores on a error.

Of course I know RBIs don't mean anything to some on he OH.

Third time up.   Bases load.  13 pitch at bat.  He walks.   Another RBI.  The 4th RBI that does not matter.

He reminds me Lot of Dodgers Gavin Lux both middle infielders that were drafted out of high school and put up great offensive numbers right away.  Lux was a highly rated prospect the last two years fir Dodgers and rose quickly.  I am hoping we see same rise from Henderson.

[ShoelesJoe]

Any word on how his defense has been so far? What are the chances he can stick at SS?

[Sports Guy]

Get him up to Aberdeen.

[Frobby]

“Single-A Delmarva infielder Gunnar Henderson was named Low-A East League Player of the Week after going 10-for-23 (.435) with four doubles, a home run, 13 RBIs and seven runs scored.”

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2021/05/diaz-going-on-injured-list-santander-completes-assignment.html

[MurphDogg]

Was hoping this would happen by the end of the year. Hopefully he keeps up his hot start. If neither he nor Kjerstad drop off (certainly no sure thing), we could have 6 top 100 guys in the off-season lists (adding the 2021 #5 pick).

Kjerstad seems more likely to drop off than Henderson in my opinion, I can't imagine they go far enough underslot for the #5 pick to not crack the top 100. Less than a 5 percent chance that Adley graduates and a 1 percent chance that DL Hall graduates in my opinion.

[wildcard]

On 5/13/2021 at 2:18 PM, Tony-OH said:

I think we will see some more movement this year by prospects because of the lost year last year. Elias was pretty cautious on his placements this year besides the surprising jump of Jaylen Ferguson and Nick Vespi to AA to start the year, but I think he'll see how guys are doing and make some early adjustments.

Some positions are stacked up a bit so if you move a guy up, you have to figure out who either goes back or gets less playing time. It's pretty clear that the Orioles want to see Ortiz at SS pretty much full time so if you move Gunnar up, then what do you do with Ortiz? 

Welk and Martinez are splitting duties at 3B in Aberdeen and are 24-year old. Do they move to AA or does the organization just give up on them and move Henderson up so he splits time between 3B and SS.

For now, everyone has a place to play and if Henderson plays the second half at Aberdeen and does well, he could be starting AA at 20-years old next year and is well ahead of the curve still.

If they want to see Ortiz at SS then play him there.  Play Henderson at 3B and Westburg at 2B.   Welk and Martinez both skipped Delmarva and neither is  hitting very well so far.   They could move down and still be ahead of short A where they played previously.  Welk is also playing 1B.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

If they want to see Ortiz at SS then play him there.  Play Henderson at 3B and Westburg at 2B.   Welk and Martinez both skipped Delmarva and neither is  hitting very well so far.   They could move down and still be ahead of short A where they played previously.  Welk is also playing 1B.

I think right now the org wants to see Henderson just get PAs and get some success under his belt. He's getting that at Delmarva. I will say if he's tearing it up still by the end of May, no reason not to challenge him at Aberdeen.

Welk and Martinez are both playing at 24 this year so they need to be able to hit High-A ball. Welk can still get his singles, but he's shown no pop so far this year which hurts his prospect status badly, especially after he struggled in his Low-a debut last year after tearing up Aberdeen. He's a line drive hitter who is probably better suited for 1st base or potentially right field than 3rd base. But he'll need to add power to his game or he will quickly become an org guy. Martinez is not a priority play and Welk is quickly becoming not one either so Henderson could get most of PAs at 3B while still getting some SS time with Ortiz moving to 2B or 3B.